by: Juliet Giglio & Keith Giglio
Genre: Romantic Comedy/Holiday Romance
Release Date: July 5, 2022
Publisher: Sourcebooks Casablanca
Up-and-coming LA screenwriter Ivy Green is about to have her life turned upside down. Her movie, based on her and her high school sweetheart, Nick Shepherd, is being filmed in her upstate New York hometown. In the middle of summer, during the month of July, the production crew creates a winter wonderland Christmas.
Nick is less than thrilled to see Ivy after all this time. Five years ago, college degree fresh in hand, she decided her screenwriting career was bigger than their future together. Or, at least that’s how he saw it. He returned home, to his family vineyards, and grew his way to the top of vintner acclaim: his pride and glory being his vineyard’s award-winning “Poison Ivy” vintage – named after you-know-who. And then he learns that Ivy’s equally unhappy with him…and in her movie version of their relationship, she kills his character off.
To complicate matters, Ivy isn't sure of her relationship with the producer, the town is overflowing with movie stars and adoring fans, and worst of all—the actress playing Ivy develops a crush on the real Nick! Now, with renewed and confusing feelings about Nick, Ivy is determined to see if there is anything left between them, but in the end, Ivy will need to re-write her life script to finally get everything she ever wanted.
Where am I? Griffin thought, as he woke up from an exhausted sleep triggered by one airplane cocktail and an Ambien chaser. He was in the back of a limo looking out at a lot of cow butts. He remembered catching the red eye from LAX and landing in, what was it, Chicago? Philadelphia? Mexico?
“Where am I?” Griffin asked his Driver.
“We just got off 90 and are now on 14 south. Should be there in 25 minutes.”
Griffin had no idea what those numbers meant. He didn’t even drive a car. Well, he could drive a car. Just not legally, since his license was taken away for too many speeding tickets. The last one was not his fault though. He was driving through Ohio. That was his excuse. He wanted to get out of Ohio as quickly as he could. He had some crazy relatives there.
“I’m going to need more to go on than that, my friend.”
“I’m sorry, Mr. James, I picked you up at the Buffalo airport if that helps.”
“That explains the red and blue hat with a Buffalo on it.” It came back to him. Drew suggested landing in Buffalo to avoid the paparazzi. There was a direct flight from Los Angeles to Buffalo. And Buffalo was a few hours’ drive to the set. Griffin was coming right off another movie. He was worn out. It wasn’t the paparazzi that worried Griffin. It was his fans. The Griffineers. That unruly, let’s rip off his shirt, mob who followed him wherever he went. Such was the price of fame. Griffin had been a tween star prior to making movies. He played a warlock who accidentally got enrolled in an all-girl witch school. It was called Broommates. Hijinks ensued. So did his Q rating.
“Your Q score is forty,” his manager-mother said. “This is great. Tom Hanks is forty-six.” Griffin was fourteen years old and not even aware of what a Q score was.
“It measures your popularity and our brand. The higher the Q score, the more highly regarded the person is,” his manager-mother explained.
“I have a brand?” Griffin wondered.
***
Griffin was feeling all alone in the world. He refused to do the third dog movie. He started rejecting everything that was sent to him, looking for a smart script. His agents got mad at him and dumped him. He had one more commitment - a really bad sci-fi movie - after that, he would figure out what to do next.
“Griffin, it’s Drew.” Griffin was genuinely excited to hear from Drew. He was one of the good ones in Hollywood. He had recently produced an independent film about a dead cowboy that Griffin adored.
Drew cut to the chase: “I’m about to go into production on something I think you would love. It’s a small indie. I’m paying favored nations. Scale plus ten. Amari Rivers just signed on. Love for you to play opposite her.” Griffin knew that Amari was rising, as the agents would say. She was a singer, actress. YouTube celebrity. And damn talented. And the tub scene in Beer Boy had everyone talking. “It’s a small indie. Shooting in the middle of nowhere. Finger Lakes. Upstate New York.”
“What’s the story?” Griffin asked.
“It’s about a couple that meets in second grade, and they go from friends to boyfriend and girlfriend. Always finding their way home to each other. It’s like Boyhood meets When Harry Met Sally with one of those you didn’t see coming endings.”
“I’ll do it,” Griffin blurted out.
“Don’t you want to read the script?”
“Of course,” Griffin said, a little embarrassed by his eagerness. “Send it over.”
“We just got off 90 and are now on 14 south. Should be there in 25 minutes.”
Griffin had no idea what those numbers meant. He didn’t even drive a car. Well, he could drive a car. Just not legally, since his license was taken away for too many speeding tickets. The last one was not his fault though. He was driving through Ohio. That was his excuse. He wanted to get out of Ohio as quickly as he could. He had some crazy relatives there.
“I’m going to need more to go on than that, my friend.”
“I’m sorry, Mr. James, I picked you up at the Buffalo airport if that helps.”
“That explains the red and blue hat with a Buffalo on it.” It came back to him. Drew suggested landing in Buffalo to avoid the paparazzi. There was a direct flight from Los Angeles to Buffalo. And Buffalo was a few hours’ drive to the set. Griffin was coming right off another movie. He was worn out. It wasn’t the paparazzi that worried Griffin. It was his fans. The Griffineers. That unruly, let’s rip off his shirt, mob who followed him wherever he went. Such was the price of fame. Griffin had been a tween star prior to making movies. He played a warlock who accidentally got enrolled in an all-girl witch school. It was called Broommates. Hijinks ensued. So did his Q rating.
“Your Q score is forty,” his manager-mother said. “This is great. Tom Hanks is forty-six.” Griffin was fourteen years old and not even aware of what a Q score was.
“It measures your popularity and our brand. The higher the Q score, the more highly regarded the person is,” his manager-mother explained.
“I have a brand?” Griffin wondered.
***
Griffin was feeling all alone in the world. He refused to do the third dog movie. He started rejecting everything that was sent to him, looking for a smart script. His agents got mad at him and dumped him. He had one more commitment - a really bad sci-fi movie - after that, he would figure out what to do next.
“Griffin, it’s Drew.” Griffin was genuinely excited to hear from Drew. He was one of the good ones in Hollywood. He had recently produced an independent film about a dead cowboy that Griffin adored.
Drew cut to the chase: “I’m about to go into production on something I think you would love. It’s a small indie. I’m paying favored nations. Scale plus ten. Amari Rivers just signed on. Love for you to play opposite her.” Griffin knew that Amari was rising, as the agents would say. She was a singer, actress. YouTube celebrity. And damn talented. And the tub scene in Beer Boy had everyone talking. “It’s a small indie. Shooting in the middle of nowhere. Finger Lakes. Upstate New York.”
“What’s the story?” Griffin asked.
“It’s about a couple that meets in second grade, and they go from friends to boyfriend and girlfriend. Always finding their way home to each other. It’s like Boyhood meets When Harry Met Sally with one of those you didn’t see coming endings.”
“I’ll do it,” Griffin blurted out.
“Don’t you want to read the script?”
“Of course,” Griffin said, a little embarrassed by his eagerness. “Send it over.”
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This sounds like it is going to be a fun book to read.
ReplyDeleteIt does. Plus, I want to see how they're going to incorporate the whole it's 90 degrees but we have to pretend to be cold, since it's Christmastime. That's one of the things that always intrigues me. How do the actors deal with the coats, when it's hot?
Deletesounds fun. love the cover.
ReplyDeletedenise
They sure won't be filming Christmas movies in Texas during the summer. Those heavy coats will cause heat stroke.
ReplyDelete